Mismatched Eyes
by Bunny Wilde
Summary: Just a short bit about Jareth before he was taken Underground and made King of the Goblins. Takes place sometime around 18th century England. Speech patterns and such aren't quite dated correctly, but I like writing more than extensive research. :D
1. Goblin Thief

"And when I child is particularly bad," the old nurse went on, cracking a grin full of yellowing teeth, "then them goblins come and take them away forever, and no one knows what happens to them, or where's they go off to!"

Cassandra's face was glowing, and she smiled back at her old nurse, who was laughing uproariously at her young charge's enthusiasm for old wives tales.

"Having fun, are we?" asked an all-too-familiar voice from the doorway.

"Playing with your goblin friends, Cass?" asked Jareth coolly, as he idly strolled across the room toward his sister.

"Jareth, you insect," said Cassandra, flashing a grin glittering with hints of steel. "What are you doing here?"

"Father requires our highly coveted presence," said Jareth, his eyes glancing untrustingly at the nurse. Cassandra sighed; her princeling of an older brother had never liked her nurse.

"One of my favorite ribbons is missing, Jareth," she said, matching the frost in her brother's voice, "you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"Come along," said Jareth, fire touching his voice, his eyes flashing. Then he turned on one booted heel and strode out the door.

"Now there's one for them goblins, and no mistake," said the old nurse, and she and Cassandra burst out laughing. "Well, best get a move on if you don't want your father after you! Go on!"

"Good-bye," said Cassandra, kissing the nurse's cheek before scurrying out the door.

She spotted Jareth half way down the hall already, and ran to catch up, balls of her skirt in her fists as her means of not tripping.

"Jareth," she said, smoothing her skirts and trying to act ladylike in the face of the fact that she'd just run half a hallway. "Jareth, where is my ribbon?"

Jareth turned to look at her. "Maybe your goblin friends have stolen it," he said, with a smirk.

"Jareth!" pouted Cassandra, actually stomping her foot, and lady-liked-ness be damned.

"Look, Cass," said Jareth, pulling out every bit of his nearly one-year-older advantage, "you need to start growing up. You're twelve years old! In a year or so, you'll _marry_, and I'm sure your future husband will not appreciate goblin stories. I've told your nurse to cease with that nonsense, but…" He finished here, with a self-suffering sigh.

"Jareth!" Cassandra said, even more forcefully. "You know perfectly well the goblins did _not _steal my ribbon! Or my little gold ring, or that other ribbon, that gold, satiny one…"

"Father will be furious if we don't show up soon," said Jareth obstinately. Then he set off again, and Cassandra was forced to swallow the insults that leapt to her tongue.

"Lord, Jareth," she grumbled as she caught up to him, "you're becoming worse than father. Why the hurry to be older, Jare?"

Jareth stopped, and turned to look at her. "Jare" was the pet name he's forgotten like some old toy stuffed away in a trunk somewhere. Typical of Cass to pull that out now. Yet somehow… he didn't mind.

Cassandra was sure of the expression on her brother's face. It was one she hadn't seen in a long time: uncertainty.

"I…" she said, suddenly feeling guilty for reasons she couldn't explain, "I merely…"

"No," said Jareth, his eyes contemplative suddenly, "no, you're right. I've been in such a hurry to be father. You are right. I'm…sorry."

They stared at each other for a moment, and then Jareth grinned and kissed her on the cheek.

"Don't worry, dearest sister," he said, still smiling, "I'll keep those goblins out of your room."

Grinning back, Cassandra took his hand, and together they continued to their father's chambers.


	2. Never, ever again

Cassandra sat in her bedchamber, wearing her nightgown and combing her long, nut-brown hair. She envied Jareth his hair; light gold, thick and luxurious. Oh, there was nothing wrong with her hair; she just preferred Jareth's.

She thought back to the events of the day. The meeting with their father wasn't anything special; he had just wanted to spend sometime with his children, she supposed. It hadn't been exciting, or anything. And then he wanted to speak to Jareth alone, of course; soon to be Lord Jareth, the heir to their father's estate and all that…

Cassandra got up off her bed and wandered over to the mirror at the far end of her room, shivering as her feet touched the cold stone floor with every step. When she got to the mirror, she curled her feet under her as she adjusted her self on the stool in front of the vanity. She gazed into the mirror at her reflection. Apart from her envy of her brother's beautiful hair, she liked everything about herself; in fact, she considered herself quite beautiful. So that may peg her as a vain girl… so what? She had to admit that she had the loveliest eyes, all green, clear, and sparkling.

That was one thing she definitely did NOT envy her brother: his eyes. For some reason quite unknown to her, her brother's eyes had grown to be mismatched; the right was blue, and the left was brown. If you hadn't grown up around them, the eyes could be quite disconcerting when you first experienced contact with them. Especially due to her brother's intense gaze. Most girls Jareth had met had been for than a little troubled the first time they'd noticed.

Cassandra sighed. She pitied her brother sometimes; one of the girls who'd been troubled at first by the eyes was a girl who Jareth had unfortunately decided he fancied: Lavinia, one of the daughters of another nobleman who frequently discussed business with her father.

Cassandra frowned a bit at the thought of Lavinia. She had never gotten on well with the girl. Darkly beautiful, and of an age with Jareth, Lavinia thought very highly of herself. She looked down on Cassandra _and_ Jareth, as sadly love struck as the latter was. With that major flaw, Cassandra was sure Jareth had been netted by Lavinia's unearthly good looks. Not entirely uncommon among boys around Jareth's age when circumstances involved Lavinia. The girl also had a liking for pretty little baubles and such. That fact, coupled with her brother's being so smitten, gave Cassandra a shrewd idea where her ribbons and ring had gone. Hopefully, with Jareth's promise to "keep those goblins out of her room", no more of her things would end up as tokens of undying love to Lavinia. Hopefully.

Sighed again, Cassandra looked into her own eyes, admiring their color and clarity. She couldn't fall asleep, so why not do this? In fact… she knew exactly which of her necklaces would go with her eyes; it was her favorite pendant, worn only on special occasions. And she decided this strange, newfound insomnia was such an occasion.

She got up, with a shiver for the cold stones beneath her feet, and made her way to the other side of the bedchamber, where she kept a jewelry box next to her bed, on a small dresser.

The jewelry box had been a present from Jareth, which was ironic, as he now seemed to be stealing it's present contents. It was made of dark wood, and inlaid with mother-of-pearl in a pattern of Jareth's own design. It most closely resembled a spearhead, only more abstract, and with a circle containing a twisted pattern, in the center of the spearhead. She loved the design; it would always remind her of Jareth.

She lifted the lid, smiling to see all her little treasures within. Organization was overrated; they were all lovingly tossed in a miniature heap at the bottom of the box.

She gently started to separate them. She hadn't remembered them being quite _this_ jumbled, who honestly remembered exactly what state their jewelry had been in last they saw it?

She removed piece by piece the glittering, shining contents of her treasure chest, carefully setting each piece by the box on the dresser next to the box. When she got to the last one, her hands froze.

It wasn't there. Her favorite necklace, her beautiful emerald pendant, clear and green, like her eyes… it wasn't in the box!

She checked again. And a third time. Nothing. The necklace was gone. And she had just remembered: Lavinia had a certain affinity for emeralds.

In that moment of revelation, she did what no ladylike, proper daughter of a lord would do; she screamed. She lashed out with her hand at the jewelry box, sending it crashing to the floor. She didn't notice that she's broken the lid; the beautiful inlay of mother-of-pearl had fallen out, and lay scattered in several pieces on the floor, but Cassandra was too busy dashing out of her room to see it.

No one was awake; it was very late. She flew down the halls until she found Jareth's chambers. Not bothering to knock, she burst inside. The young lordling was sprawled on his back on the bed, wearing nothing but his breeches. He looked so peaceful. The fact only served to fuel his sister's anger.

"All right, where it is!" she screamed, walloping him with one of his own pillows.

Jareth yelled something incomprehensible, and quickly jumped off his bed and scrambled to his feet.

"Cass!" he yelled, jumping as she threw a pillow at him. He hurriedly blinked sleep from his eyes. "What…!"

"Don't you give me that!" Cassandra screamed at him. "You took it! I know you did! Have you already given it to her, then? Have you!"

"Cass, what ARE you going on about!" bellowed Jareth, his still sleep-dazed eyes turning to look of plain confusion.

"My necklace!" howled Cassandra, and angry tear escaping her eye. "The emerald pendant! Lavinia likes emeralds, doesn't she? _Oh_ yes…!"

Jareth had finally woken up at this point, and the sleep was gone from his eyes.

"I guess your goblin friends took that as well?" he asked cruelly. Oh yes; he could be cruel.

"Goblins!" Cassandra screamed. "_Goblins_! I with the goblins would come and take you away! _Right now_!"

And with that, she turned and fled the room, like a tornado of rage.

Jareth gazed after her, and for a moment, felt extremely guilty. The next moment, however, there was a burst of pain at the back of his head, and his world faded to a warm, velvety black, as small, rough hands grabbed him and started to drag him away…

The next morning, the handsome young lordling Jareth, and his strange, mismatched eyes, weren't seen anywhere in the manor. In fact, they never were, ever again.

**A/N: thanx to the reviewers! and a special thanks to Gackt, for lending quite inspirational music. XD **


	3. Memories, and Loss There Of

Jareth sat on his throne, moodily tapping his riding crop against his leg. The thing reminded him of home. It was almost like a scepter to him. He liked to hold it, to remind him that he was _almost _a lord, had _almost_ inherited his father's estate. If not for one stupid emerald pendant and an old nurse with too many old wives tales…

He got up, and strode over to the window over looking the goblin city. This was one of those rare times when everything was quite. It was late at night, indeed, past midnight, and most of the goblins were asleep. Those who weren't wandered the city. Jareth liked this time best, although he did sometimes think it gave him too much time on his own, to think about things he'd rather just put from his mind.

He remembered first coming to the Goblin city. That had been years ago. How many, he wasn't sure, but he knew it was a great deal of time. He'd grown, although at what seemed to him a very slow rate. He had no idea how time was working in his world, how it was affecting his sister.

He recalled the first day he'd spent here, surrounded by creatures he's only imagined before, and only as a small child. But he wasn't going to show fear, wasn't going to panic. He had always had the quality to take control of situations, just like his father. He put his skills to use. He saw that the goblins had no king, no lords, no form of government whatsoever. He therefore set out to become their king. It took a while to convince them. But it had worked. They looked upon him as a sort of god. It was his eyes, he believed. Such strange eyes. After he'd convinced them to follow him, they began work on the castle. His castle.

Sighing, Jareth walked away from the window and dropped back into his throne. He _did _have too much time to think when he was alone. And he always came back to thinking about the same thing: Cassandra.

He couldn't figure out how he felt about his sister. Surely she hadn't really believed that the goblins would take him away… how did she feel now? Did she feel guilty, or did she really not care that he'd made him disappear, forever? After years and years of thinking on it, he just didn't know anymore.

Cassandra gazed out her window at the stars. They were beautiful here. Somehow the skies were always clear above her holiday castle.

She shifted off the elbow she was leaning on, and groaned as pains shot up her arm. She wasn't as young as she used to be. Indeed, all her children were grown, her youngest over thirty years. She was surprised she'd lived this long. But with her eldest and his wife running the estate and such, she could live out what she had of her life here, at the get-away palace, where she liked it best.

She looked out at the stars again, switching to lean on her other elbow. For moment, she thought the stars looked like a face. For a moment, a pair of eyes flashed before hers, one blue, one brown. She blinked, and shook her head.

She must be getting crazier than she was already. Eyes in the sky? And mismatched eyes, at that. That was ridiculous. Everyone knew that there was no such thing as people with different colored eyes. Who'd ever heard of such a thing.


End file.
